Retired DIG, BJP leader wanted in Assam police recruitment scam absconding, cash reward announced

Assam police issued lookout notices and announced a cash reward of Rs. 1 lakh each against a retired DIG and a BJP leader who reportedly went into hiding after question papers for recruitment of 597 sub-inspectors in the state police got leaked on September 20.

Inspector general of police, Assam CID, Surender Kumar told reporters here on Monday that investigation so far revealed that the question papers, which were shared through WhatsApp originated from the mobile phone of the P K Dutta, a retired DIG, who was hiding.

The examination was cancelled and postponed after the question papers were found in social media platforms even before the examination started. Chairman of State Level Recruitment Board of Assam Police, Pradip Kumar, a retired IPS officer also resigned on Sunday taking moral responsibility.

Police have arrested at least 19 persons so far in connection with the FIRs lodged with the crime branch and CID.

Investigation suggested that Dutta had organised a "coaching" for at least 50 candidates in a private hotel here and promised to give them the jobs in lieu of money. Police sealed some properties and seized some items after "huge properties disproportionate" to Dutta's income source came to light. Dutta owns at least five luxury hotels, several residential properties in Guwahati and Dibrugarh, 1600 bighas of land and tea estate in Cachar district, sources said.

Dibon Deka, a BJP leader who contested in the 2011 Assembly election from the Barkhetri Assembly constituency also fled and his family members said he was fearing threat to his life. BJP, however, claimed that he was not a member of the party.

The alleged scam that surfaced ahead of Assembly elections slated early next year came as an embarrassment to the BJP-led government, which promised in 2016 to make Assam a "corruption-free" state.

The Opposition Congress attacked the government saying the scam proved that Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal's slogan of "corruption-free Assam" was just hogwash. "How can CID conduct inquiry against policemen involved in the scam as it is also an agency of the state police? There should be an inquiry by a central agency or a judicial inquiry," Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president, Ripun Bora said.

Leader of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, Akhil Gogoi demanded a CBI inquiry alleging that the scam was bigger than the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh.

Sonowal, however, said all found involved in the scam would be punished.